Indonesian officials say the search will continue today for a Russian passenger jet which disappeared yesterday afternoon south of Jakarta.

The Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100-passenger aircraft was about 50 minutes into a demonstration flight when contact was lost.

The company hopes the new jet will provide a crucial boost to the Russian aviation industry, and a group of Indonesian airline executives and journalists were reportedly among the 44 people onboard.

Transport ministry officials say the pilot was flying at about 3,000 metres near Mount Salak, a towering, eroded volcano, before he radioed for permission to descend to 1,800 metres and disappeared from radar.

The plane took off at 2pm from east Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport, which is used for some commercial and military flights.

"We tried to send two helicopters to search for the plane... but because of bad weather and strong winds they had to return.

"We will send them out again tomorrow (Thursday)."

There were scenes of grief at the airport, with relatives of some passengers sitting on luggage carousels weeping as they waited for more information about the missing plane.

Yanny Mariana says one of her four friends on the flight had called her in a panic.

He had earlier told her the plane would fly above the city of Bandung and be back in Jakarta in under an hour.

"But around 3pm he called me in a panic and I was worried because I knew it shouldn't take that long to fly to Bandung and back," she said.

Herry Bakti, head of the aviation division of Indonesia's transport ministry, said the Superjet was on the second of two demonstration flights and those on board were invited guests.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported 36 non-Russians on board and eight Russians, four of them crew and the others Sukhoi company representatives.

It named the captain as Alexander Yablontsev, 57, a veteran pilot.

Aeroflot's first Superjet spent several weeks grounded upon delivery because of an air conditioning problem, and in March a plane had to cut short a scheduled flight after it encountered problems with its undercarriage.

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